MLB.com's Carrie Muskat has been covering Major League Baseball since 1981 and is the author of "Banks to Sandberg to Grace: Five Decades of Love and Frustration with the Cubs." You can follow her on Twitter @CarrieMuskat. Here, she blogs about the Cubs.

2/19 Garza on Z, Theo & contract

Matt Garza predicts Carlos Zambrano will be in the Cy Young race this year, that the Cubs will be eating better, and his contract situation won’t be a distraction.

* On Big Z: “I’d love to be compared to Zambrano on the field. That guy, I’ll tell you what, he’s going to have one hell of a year, I kid you not. He’s going to go down to Miami and surprise a lot of people. His stuff is so electric and it still bottoms out — every pitch does. He’ll go down there and have a hell of a year. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in the Cy Young race this year, I kid you not. He’s got that good of stuff. Just playing with Ozzie [Guillen] and being in his own comfort zone, I think he’ll have a hell of a season. I wish nothing but the best for that guy.”

* On changes with Theo Epstein now in charge: “We’ve got better cooks. The food was good last year, but they brought in a complete overhaul of the kitchen. You see changes there, you see a lot more young faces. I’ve only been here for a year and that’s all I’ve seen so far. I’m waiting like everybody else to get out there and see what we’ve got.”

* On Epstein’s Red Sox teams: “[I know] I was able to kick the crap out of them every year, year in, year out for three seasons, that’s what I learned. The ballclubs he built were always good.”

* Garza has agreed to a one-year contract but GM Jed Hoyer hinted they may discuss a multi-year deal. He doesn’t intend on setting a deadline.

“Right now, my agent knows where I’m at and where I want to be at and that’s all there is to it,” Garza said. “When stuff comes across, we’ll all know about it and we’ll talk about it. If something gets done, you guys will know. If nothing gets done, we’ll all know. You won’t hear a peep from me. My job is to get ready April 5 and get to the postseason.”

— Carrie Muskat

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1 Comment

Garza has the guts to say what a few of us have said all winter–do not give him away with all that money just because he is emotional. Many of us have supervised emotional employees and need to get the best out of them knowing there are days when it is “Oh my”, . I am just disappointed that our new guys could not view this as an opportunity. Instead they seemed to listen to some veteran players who do not really give a big **** if they win all that much-just make sure my name is spelled right on the checks. I just know how desperate we are for starting pitching and one of the best hitting pitchers ever wasjust given to crosstown jerk Ozzie–not that there is anything wrong with being a jerk /winner. Major sports are full of them!

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